in what year do we expect construcyion to begin ...

I'd bet GC's and trades available to work on this is one of the big barriers in terms of speediness, given Chard usually goes with Campbell and they are already on a ton of projects.

I think this space will be very welcome. It sets the tone for what will eventually happen across the street.

Dude, we all have our fingers crossed in the hope that the corner square will be a success. But we're also aware that these kinds of spaces tend to have issues way more often than not.

In the adjacent few blocks alone we have:

-Centennial Square
-the sunken plaza at Douglas and Pandora,
-the corner patio of the brick office block at Douglas and Herald,
-the space behind the pillars on the ground level of the other office block at Douglas and Herald,

-the square behind the Rotherham building on Blanshard

Seriously, if this space ends up being yet another misfire then I would literally be willing to contribute some money out of my own pocket to prevent this kind of thing from happening again with any subsequent projects in the vicinity.

But otherwise, I have high hopes all around for this project. I think I actually really like the main tower and podium, and I also think they'll bring the kind of look and feel that the north side of the street needs. Right now as you come through the lane on the Jack Davis block it's like you've arrived at an open end where there's a whole lot of nothing. But this will put a whole lot of something there, and thus lend some cohesion to all of the recent (and not so recent) developments in the area.

if this space ends up being yet another misfire then I would literally be willing to contribute some money out of my own pocket to prevent this kind of thing from happening again with any subsequent projects in the vicinity.

The flip side: if this space ends up being a success then can we try to resist the temptation to replicate it on any of the adjacent corners? If it ends up being good then allow it to continue to be good. Don't water it down by copying and pasting it right next door.